WaterRower has been selling their water rowing machines since the 80’s and are well known in the indoor rowing communities. The WaterRower even famously starred in hit TV series “House of Cards”. The WaterRower’s simplistic and aesthetically pleasing design as well as its quiet operation and soothing sound of the water swooshing in its tank as you row has made it a popular choice among households across the globe. In fact they also have many partnerships including supplying WaterRowers for OrangeTheory studios, CityRow and Ergatta to name a few.
In recent times we have seen more and more ‘smart’ home rowing machines like the Hydrow, Ergatta, Echelon, CityRow and Nordic Track, which feature large displays and subscription programs to keep you motivated and engaged. Now we are seeing some of these companies like Hydrow creating more budget friendly base models of their flagship smart rowing machines to further compete with the likes of the traditional rowing machines like the WaterRower and Concept2 RowErg rowing machine. Hydrow are new on the scene since 2019 and have a growing community of users that enjoy Hydrow’s unique guided on-water workouts as well as the competitive nature of their immersive online training platform.
When comparing the Hydrow Wave VS WaterRower it would seem that we are comparing apples to oranges but when you are investing $1000+ in a rowing machine it is important to look at the whole picture of what you are getting in return and how it will benefit you. There are a lot of different variations of the WaterRower. In this article Hydrow Wave VS WaterRower, we will concentrate on the popular WaterRower Natural Rowing Machine With S4 Performance Monitor.
Hydrow Wave VS WaterRower Specs
| Hydrow Wave | WaterRower | |
| Weight | 102 lbs | 103.5 lbs |
| Portability | Stands | Stands |
| Size | 80″ L x 19″ W | 82″ L x 22″ W |
| Resistance Type | Magnetic | Water |
| Resistance Levels | 50 – 300 | self-regulated* |
| Maximum User Weight | 375 lbs | 700 lbs |
| Monitor | 16″ HD Touch Display | S4 Digital Performance Monitor |
| Power Requirement | Power Outlet | 4x AA Batteries |
| Subscription Cost | $44/Month** | N/A |
| Warranty | 5yr frame, 1yr parts | 5yr frame, 3yr parts |
**Price current April 2024 | Check Hydrow.com for latest pricing
 | Hydrow Wave | View on Amazon |
 | WaterRower Natural Ash | View on Amazon |
Build Details
The Hydrow Wave features an aesthetic looking slick minimalistic black aluminium and steel frame with a thermoplastic polymer body which looks great. It has a stainless steel track and polyester webbing strap for a quiet and smooth rowing experience. The Hydrow Wave comes in 5 different colors orange, yellow, blue, green and the original black version. The Hydrow Wave is a slimmer lighter rowing machine than their original premium Hydrow rowing machine (30% smaller footprint), which is great for smaller home gym spaces.
The WaterRower natural rowing machine also has many different options when it comes to choosing your rowing machine. It can come handcrafted in a range of different quality woods such as oak, walnut, cherry and ash as well as metals such as aluminium or stainless steel. It sports a dual rail and flywheel design with water as resistance, making it feel as smooth and as natural as possible, like you are rowing on water.
Both the Hydrow Wave and WaterRower have comfortable ergonomic seats, soft easy grip handles and adjustable footrests. The great thing about rowing machines as home gym cardio equipment is that they don’t take up a lot of space in your house. You can easily stand them up to save space and they give you a great workout.
Good and bad points of the Hydrow Wave build:
+ Good rail length for taller users
+ Great range of resistance levels from 50 to 300
+ Ideal for smaller spaces (80″ x 19″)
+ Magnetic resistance offers quieter rowing experience
+ Comfortable padded ergonomic seat
– Seat rollers are quite noisy on the Hydrow Wave
– An additional anchor is recommended for vertical storage, sold separately
Good and bad points of the WaterRower build:
+ Works without needing power or Wi-Fi
+ Looks like a piece of furniture rather than exercise equipment
+ Natural and relaxing water sound whilst rowing
+ Durable
+ Replacement parts available
+ Easy to do maintenance and repairs
+ Good rail length for taller users
+ Easy to move and stand upright to save space
+ Suitable for heavier users (700lbs max)
+ Hirise adapters available as an accessory to raise the height of the WaterRower (great for those that may have hip mobility issues)
+ USA Made
+ Hand Made
+ Aftermarket slides can be purchased making it dynamic
– Can be more hassle adding/removing water for resistance changes
– Water tablets needed every 6 months to keep tank clean
– Device / tablet holder purchased separately (can also be a good thing if you also want to also have technology free rowing experience)
Display
The Hydro Wave features a 16″ HD touch display, which is a great size for an immersive on-water rowing experience. Its front facing speakers deliver a crisp engaging sound. It also features Bluetooth for wireless connectivity to your headphones or home theatre system.
The WaterRower does not include a display but rather offers a S4 digital performance monitor which gives you basic metrics such as stroke rate, mph, 500m split time, watts, calories. In order to get more data and workout tracking, a Bluetooth ComModule can be installed which is a physical hardware upgrade to the S4 digital performance monitor and can be used with many apps such as the WaterRower Connect app, as well as many third party apps.
Another alternative is installing the SmartRow power meter and using the SmartRow app.
Good and bad points of the Hydrow Wave display
+ 16″ HD display gives a great immersive experience
+ Great front facing speakers
+ All-in-one display for tracking / displaying your workout stats
– Screen is in a fixed location, so you would need to perform Hydrow yoga and mobility sessions behind your rowing machine if using this screen.
– Unable to connect to third party apps (apart from Strava)
– Unable to play your own music
Good and bad points of WaterRower S4 Performance Monitor with Bluetooth ComModule and using your own device as a display
+ Device/tablet can be removed and used for other purposes or workouts
+ Compatible with WaterRower’s apps to track workouts and compatible with third party apps like Asensei / EXR etc.
+ The Hydrow App can also be installed and used on your own device and membership is cheaper for streaming classes than a Hydrow membership on the Hydrow Wave ($19.99/m vs $44/m*)
+ You are able to store/play your own music or use music streaming platforms like Spotify
+ More apps are being developed that are compatible with the WaterRower
– S4 Monitor is pretty basic
– Bluetooth ComModule is purchased separately
The Experience
Both the WaterRower and Hydrow Wave are great indoor rowing machines for beginners right through to experienced rowers. Both indoor rowing machines offer a realistic and smooth rowing experience which is great for training off-water.
Hydrow are considered the ‘Peloton’ of rowing. They have exceptional on-water rowing content. The Hydrow trainers are great and athletes themselves and being on-water creates a truly immersive experience. Classes are shot from different locations across the globe and include great scenery.
With a bunch of variety of personalities, workout formats, and intensities, you can tailor the app to your preferences and needs. This also includes strength, stretching and mobility videos. The app is built so you can craft together warmups, workouts, cooldowns, and stretching or mobility sessions as you want.
Hydrow are constantly updating and improving their app and are always adding new content and new classes to try. The Hydrow membership makes it fun to compete with other rowers. There are live workouts which you can join and weekly races you can participate in. Hydrow do a great job of gamifying rowing and keeping you engaged and motivated.
Being a connected experience device, you will always need power and an internet connection in order to row on the Hydrow Wave even in “Just Row” mode without a membership.
WaterRower has a beautiful smooth flowing resistance right from the beginning to the end of the stroke which is created by the WaterRower’s water flywheel. There is also the psychological benefits of rowing with a water resistance rower. The sound of the water is meditative and can be a relaxing unwind after a busy day of work.
You can purchase aftermarket slides to turn your WaterRower into a dynamic rowing machine, this coupled with the sound of the water resistance gives the closest feeling to actually being on the water in a boat and is a great training tool.
Good and bad points of the Hydrow Wave Experience:
+ Smooth, realistic rowing experience
+ 4000+ Great live and on-demand “fitness class” style workout videos incl. rowing, strength and conditioning, stretching, Pilates, yoga and mobility
+ On-water immersive experience with professional athletes
+ Exclusive milestone rewards
+ Unlimited workout profiles for household members to also track their workouts
+ Live in-workout leader board and weekly racing challenges
+ Automatically recommends your next workout based on your workout history
– Power and internet are always required in order to be able to use the Hydrow Wave, even without a membership.
– Hydrow Wave has very limited functionality without membership
– Just row function is very limited / unable to program a simple time or distance rowing workout
Good and bad points of the WaterRower Experience:
+ Very smooth and realistic water resistance
+ Quiet to use as wood absorbs noise
+ Soothing and meditative water noise
Pricing
At the time of writing this article the WaterRower was roughly $1289* and the Hydrow Wave $1695*.
You will also need to factor in the Hydrow Wave membership cost which is currently $44 p/m*.
The Hydrow app is currently $19.99 p/m* and is available on the Apple app store and Google Play store.
*prices stated current April 2024 | Check Hydrow.com for latest pricing
Choosing Your Indoor Rower
Which one is best for you?
When you are looking at purchasing a rowing machine in this price range it is going to be heavily important to pick a rowing machine that is specific to your own needs and goals. Would you enjoy being part of the Hydrow virtual community and could you benefit from having engaging and encouraging streamed on-water rowing workouts? Or are you looking for a great value rowing machine with maximum versatility? Perhaps you are an athlete looking to buy a machine that you will be able to train with to help you reach your goals?
Hydrow Wave
If being part of the Hydrow virtual community and utilising their streaming video classes and connected-fitness elements will motivate you to get on your rowing machine and workout and your goal is to get healthy and stay fit then it will be a great fit for you. You will be able to see your workout stats within the app, participate in races, have access to the leader board and have all your historical workout data within Hydrow.
When Choosing the Hydrow Wave vs WaterRower you are getting a great high quality immersive on-water experience as well as great coaching from experienced athletes. However, you are choosing more of an experience rather than an actual rowing machine. Unless you are looking to have an immersive connected rowing experience and be engaged in the Hydro community then the Hydro Wave might not be the best fit for you.
In Hydro’s own words:
“We do not suggest purchasing Hydrow with the intent of using it in “Just Row” mode. If you are not interested in the streaming video or connected-fitness elements, you may want to consider carefully whether or not Hydrow is the right rower for you.”
Considerations for choosing the Hydrow Wave VS WaterRower:
– You are locked into their eco system and are unable to use other third party apps (apart from connecting to Strava) or stream any other services like Netflix, YouTube, Spotify etc.
– If you end your subscription the rowing machine is pretty limited and you would be much better off with purchasing a WaterRower or other non-subscription based rowing machine like the Concept2 RowErg.
– How much are replacement parts for the Hydrow Wave and are they likely to be expensive or difficult to replace
– When choosing a Hydrow Wave VS WaterRower you are limited when wanting to do simple interval training or time and distance rowing sessions.
WaterRower
WaterRowers are great training machines as you can easily program a quick distance or time workout. WaterRowers have great resale value and having your own tablet gives you a lot more options as you can use different apps and streaming services. You can also have the tablet off and have a break from the screen and enjoy the simple act of rowing on a beautifully hand-crafted machine with the natural and relaxing sound of water.
You can still experience Hydrow by purchasing the Hydrow app subscription for $19.99 p/m* and row along on your WaterRower rowing machine. This way, if you later change your mind or want something new you can stop paying for their app and try a different app without compromising your rowing machine’s abilities. You will need to track your own workout data as it will not be recorded within the Hydrow app. You will also not be able to be part of the leader board or able to participate in the weekly races. You can still see and follow along with your stats on the S4 Monitor and use
Other great apps for the WaterRower include WaterRower Connect, CityRow, WaterRower TV, WaterRower Challenge as well as a range of third party apps like Kinomap, EXR, Asensei and many others which all use the Bluetooth ComModule upgrade for the S4 Performance Monitor. There is also great free row-along content and training videos on YouTube such as Dark Horse Rowing, Training Tall and Row Along YouTube channels.
More and more apps and options are coming out for the WaterRower all the time, making it the much more flexible option.
Conclusion
The Hydrow Wave is a smaller, lighter, more portable, less expensive, home friendly rowing machine than their premium indoor rowing machine. This makes it more accessible and enticing to more people in the market for a premium rowing machine with a premium connected immersive rowing experience.
Once you have added on the additional accessories for the WaterRower to have Bluetooth and a tablet holder you have two rowing machines in the same price category.
For those that are really interested in getting on-board with the full Hydrow experience, the Hydrow Wave is not a step down from their flagship product but rather offers a similar experience of the premium Hydrow at a lower price point so if you’re interested in having immersive rowing sessions as a way to stay fit that keep you motivated and engaged this may be a great tool for you. Just make sure that you will be committed in the long term and if you do go for this option make sure you get the most of your membership by rowing frequently and that Hydrow is a platform that you see yourself staying with.
If you decide to go for the WaterRower with your own device / tablet you are giving yourself access to a lot more options including WaterRower apps and third-party compatible apps which gives you the option to try different rowing platforms rather than be locked into one particular eco system.
Whether you decide to commit to the full Hydrow membership experience or give their app a try on a WaterRower with a tablet, you will find an enjoyable immersive, entertaining and engaging experience with Hydrow. Whether you decide to purchase the Hydrow Wave VS WaterRower, the most important thing is getting good use out of it. Make the most of your rowing machine and enjoy!